Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog

UNC Flagler-Kenan MBA Program

2009-11-06T19:59:03Z

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School has a new video microsite up for anyone who might be researching MBA programs. If you go here, you can watch what recent graduates of the program have to say about how well UNC prepared them for the business world.

Further Reading:

UCLA Anderson MBAs Go Global
The Cheapest MBA Program for Computer Science Students…
UC Davis Working Professional MBA Program
UA’s Two New Dual-Degree Engineering and MBA Programs
Washington State University Announces New Online MBA Program
Consider a Well-Rounded MBA
MBA Programs
Business Schools

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source*)

Academic Freedom

2009-10-29T20:14:39Z

The notion most of us have when thinking about the University (read that with a deep and important voice, please) is of a well-architectured limbo-land full of higher thought, in-depth learning, and forward motion steeped nicely in tradition. The University isn’t (or didn’t used to be) as susceptible to the rules of government and society; they’ve managed to create their own little spheres.

These days, when you really stop to ponder the reality of the University bubble, that place of higher thinking seems a lot more watered down in its autonomy. Money, politics and red tape have pulled the rest of the world into the fabric of the University, while the University is forced, more and more it seems, to rely on the non-University world in order to survive.

No less than eight members of my family, between 1932 and the present, have spent their careers at Universities. I’m not an idiot; I know that even in 1932 the University was already pretty susceptible to red tape and politics. But the University was still thought of, from without and within, as a place where academic freedom was considered sacred.

It appears, especially through the eyes of those on the inside, as though the last vestiges of higher learning and new thinking are being chipped away at an increasingly rapid rate, all in the name of popular research and big-name publishing. That all comes down to the ongoing faculty wrestling-match to figure out who will land the biggest chunk of grant money.

You can’t survive without money, and you can’t continue your research (or your job) without funding. Grant money is usually awarded to those trying to answer the newest, biggest, hottest question of the year. It’s difficult to land decent financial support for researching the esoteric topics.

When a dispute regarding academic freedom comes up, it’s usually about the rights of instructors to speak freely (within reason; there’s never any need to go overboard, for crying out loud) about politics and religion and all the Big Bads no one’s supposed to bring up in classroom discussions. Academic freedom is also supposed to include the rights of students and faculty to think, wonder, ask questions, and to perform research in order to find some answers. If money and funding are driving the machine, it seems obvious that the academic freedom to do research is being severely shaped by outside interests.

President Robert Zimmer of the University of Chicago gave a speech recently at Columbia University’s conference entitled “What is Academic Freedom For?” He spoke about academic freedom at institutions of higher learning, what that means and why it’s important to protect and maintain that tradition in the modern-day University.

The greatest contributions universities can make to society over the long run are the ideas and discoveries of faculty and students that emanate from the resulting intellectual ferment and the work of alumni across the scope of human activity―alumni whose capacity for invention has been dramatically enhanced through their education in this environment. Moreover, that universities are almost unique in making this type of contribution only highlights its importance to society.

If this is the purpose of universities, the purpose of academic freedom is precisely to preserve this openness of inquiry and freedom of thought. In other words, academic freedom is designed to protect and preserve for the long run the unique capacity of universities to contribute to society. More…

Further Reading:

Academic Freedom in the 21st Century College and University
Academic Freedom
AAUP: Academic Freedom
What is Academic Freedom For?
Pres. Zimmer’s Address Delivered at Columbia Univ.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source*)

Job Interview Preparedness

2009-10-27T18:10:14Z

Smooth Harold, Blake Snow’s alter ego/blog, has an outstanding list of the 50-Most-Common-Interview-Questions-and-Answers. It’s so good, having access to it makes me feel like a naughty little cheater. Knowing at least fifty of the questions an interviewer might throw at me, as well as solid advice on how I should go about answering them intelligently, reduces my stress level significantly (I prefer not to be caught off guard in situations where everyone is watching me and scoring how well I jump through hoops, climb vertical rock faces, and leap over nether-region-clenching chasms).

I’m not currently on the job hunt, but the Gen-Xers (my people, dude) were cursed several years back when some think-tanker told everyone that we would change jobs and careers a stupid number of times throughout our professional lives. Which basically means that by the time I’m in my sixties and will (hopefully) be a decade or so away from retirement, I’ll be able to interview my parents and my grandparents under the table.

Of course, they will either be already dead or nearly there, so some will argue that it’s not going to be a fair fight. Whatever. I’ll be so cranky about having to switch career paths and jobs every few years that I will no longer give a flying rat’s ass about the obsolete concept of “fairness.”

And what I meant by all that was: Woohoo! Interviews! Go out there and interview your asses off, people! Forward motion is good, and knowing you can nail several of the questions the suits in the tiny room will want you to answer with inimitable aplomb and captivating perfection is such a chest-swellingly marvelous feeling. It’s so good, it’s probably addictive. It’s also totally legal, so go nuts.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source*)

Boomerang Offspring

2009-10-22T19:35:44Z

Ah, autumn. Students are somewhere between ankle- and knee-deep in the new school year. Which makes parents across the nation breathe a big fat sigh of relief because the kids will be mostly out of the house for the next nine months. Except for the unfortunate few who’ve completed their primary, middle, secondary and higher levels of education and were then spit right out into this charming economy. Sucks to be you, pal.

It also sucks to be your parents; they were this close to having a kid-free home. If you’ve recently arrived on the safe shores of your parents’ front steps, you can coast for a while on parental love and sympathy. But that will not last, and if you don’t show some major effort with the Job Hunting Task of Doom, they’ll get cranky.

When the ‘rents begin to act oddly, they’ve probably read this article and are trying to get rid of you. It’s not because they don’t love you; they love you unbearably much but would like to continue to love you, which is why you have to move out as soon as is humanly possible.

Further Reading:

How to Kick Your Kid Out of the Nest
‘This Is My Goddamned House’: What to Do If Your Kid Moves Back Home
College Grads Heading Back Home

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source*)

Streamlined and Fuel-Efficient Three-Year Degrees

2009-10-20T01:33:50Z

It doesn’t seem right to compare the streamlining of higher education to the manufacturing of fuel-efficient cars, but this Newsweek article has a few good points. I’ve posted before about some schools offering a three-year degree option for qualified (super ahead of the game) college students. It makes a certain amount of sense when the economy bites and tuition rates are biting everyone’s asses even harder.

Getting in and out more quickly means a somewhat frugal social life (unless you’re just that good). If you’re someone who views college as a strictly educational experience, then go crazy with the three-year-degree Cheez Whiz. Otherwise, maybe take your time and go for the traditional four years. Or the more realistic six years.

Some pros according to the Newsweek article:

…[S]ome forward-looking colleges like Hartwick are rethinking the old way of doing things and questioning decades-old assumptions about what a college degree means. For instance, why does it have to take four years to earn a diploma? This fall, 16 first-year students and four second-year students at Hartwick, located halfway between Binghamton and Albany, enrolled in the school’s new three-year degree program. According to the college, the plan is designed for high-ability, highly motivated students who wish to save money or to move along more rapidly toward advanced degrees.

And some cons:

There are drawbacks to moving through school at such a brisk pace. For one, it deprives students of the luxury of time to roam intellectually. Compressing everything into three years also leaves less time for growing up, engaging in extracurricular activities, and studying abroad. On crowded campuses it could mean fewer opportunities to get into a prized professor’s class. Iowa’s Waldorf College has graduated several hundred students in its three-year-degree programs, but is now phasing out the option. Most Waldorf students wanted the full four-year experience—academically, socially, and athletically. And faculty members will be wary of any change that threatens the core curriculum in the name of moving students into the workforce.

Further Reading:

Super Efficient Three-Year Degree for the Highly Motivated

The Three-Year Solution

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source*)

Internet Use Among U.S. College Students

2009-10-16T19:39:35Z

There’s a new paper out about Internet use among U.S. college students. It’s short and sweet (fully readable in one quick sitting). I tend to enjoy research studies that observe, record, and number-crunch as a phenomenon is happening. Seriously, I’m the one on the tour of Monticello who’s way more amped about what Jefferson was planting every year and what his household shopping lists consisted of than seeing yet another copy of the Declaration of Independence (not that I have anything against freedom).

Sometimes mankind has to work backwards, dig up the past and put the pieces back together so we can make sense of it all. Taking note of what’s happening today seems so obvious and uninteresting, but first- and second-hand in the present tends to be a tad more precise than having everyone try to recall what happened decades ago and then attempt to form a few good theories.

By “replicating and extending” their 2002 study, Steve Jones, Camille Johnson-Yale, Sarah Millermaier, and Francisco Seoane Pérez have found that U.S. college students are still all over that Internet action. Their usage has certainly increased since the 2002 study, especially as compared to non-college student Internet users in the U.S. The generation that was born with a keyboard at their fingertips is also, not surprisingly, faster than the rest of us at finding, understanding, and implementing new Internet applications and tools.

The paper was just accepted in September, and was published in the October 5th, 2009 edition of the online peer-reviewed journal, First Monday. Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:

While ours is not a traditional diffusion of innovations study, it is important to generate a broad, comprehensive portrait of Internet use amongst college students to understand what they are doing online and what the implications of their use may be for other Internet users.
This study therefore examines how college students are using the Internet, compares their use to that of college students as reported in 2002 and to the general population. To guide our comparisons to the findings of Jones’ 2002 report, we pose broad questions regarding student Internet use: What kinds of things are today’s college students doing online that are different than what students were doing five years ago? What points of similarity and difference can we identify between the role the Internet plays in students’ social routines now and in 2002? To what extent are college students using new online tools such as blogs, Facebook, and MySpace? Tracking the evolution of students’ Internet use can help to illuminate trends in online life and help us look forward as the Internet increasingly informs aspects of everyday life.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source *)

It’s Blog Action Day!

2009-10-16T01:11:58Z

It’s Blog Action Day, and the politically correct bloggers (of which I am, mostly, on my less-sarcastic days) are supposed to tell everyone to save the planet, damnit. So reduce, reuse, recycle, walk, don’t drive, eat local, think global, compost, be as organic as is everly possible, don’t tangle up dolphins or club baby seals, and if you can possibly swing it, please consider adopting some polar bears or penguins (they’re in trouble and it’s totally our fault).

Previous Planet-Saving Posts:

Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Textbook Rental Saves Money and Trees
Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic
Penguin Games
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Free Money For Textbooks
No More Tray Sledding For You!

Posted by Alexa Harrington

UCLA Anderson MBAs Go Global

2009-10-15T22:01:39Z

Having a home base to call your own is good. And as in love as I am with travel, one of the best feelings ever is the moment you get home and walk back in the door. It’s strange and new and comfortably enveloping and familiar all at once.

As marvelous as coming home to the place that’s yours in the world, the most profound bit a trip abroad can offer is a better understanding of a whole new group of humans. I don’t care how educated someone is or isn’t, or how much political-correctness training they’ve had; leaving home base and finding yourself among people you don’t consider familiar or anywhere near your own will open your eyes a smidge and will wedge some new information and thought processes into your noggin.

It doesn’t have to hit the “It blew my mind!” level of experience intensity; subtle works too. The more we humans grok the fact that the planet is full of other humans who are basically just like us, the better things will be. Global knowledge and understanding is good.

Even if their reasons aren’t planet-saving or brotherly love, I’m still glad UCLA’s Anderson School of Management[link] will have an international requirement for their MBA students. Starting with the Class of 2012, students will have three requirement-fulfilling options:

1) Take an international elective.

2) Spend a term abroad at one of more than 50 premier global partner business schools.

3) Complete an international Applied Management Research (AMR) project.

It’s possible the business types are hoping to use their powers for global economic rule, but they’re still going to gain insight into other earth-dwellers—in non- business-y ways—whether they want to or not.

Further Reading:

UCLA Anderson: Compare MBA Programs
Business Week: UCLA Anderson School of Management
The Cheapest MBA Program for Computer Science Students…
UC Davis Working Professional MBA Program
UA’s Two New Dual-Degree MBA and Engineering Programs
Washington State Univ. Announces New Online MBA Program
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Consider a Well-Rounded MBA
AllBusinessSchools.com

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)

Intense and Intents and Intensive Purposes

2009-10-16T01:14:28Z

Kids who grow up with no television in their homes either (a) make friends quick with a kid whose family worships the ‘mote, or (b) they read a lot. My utter lack of pop culture references from the mid-seventies through the mid-nineties should do all the explaining as to which path I took.

The outcome being, I ended up with a stellar vocabulary, full of words I’d only ever seen in print and therefore usually couldn’t pronounce correctly. Whatever. At least I knew what they meant.

And there were some I knew how to say. (With feeling). When I was eight my 18-year-old babysitter burned the chicken pot pies that were to be our dinner. My mother never bought us crappy processed food, which meant my brother and I were infatuated with all sugary, well-preserved, and insanely processed foodstuffs.

I was understandably pissed when the sitter burned my only shot at packaged food for the month and filled the kitchen with smoke. To vent my anger I hollered, “What are you trying to do, asphyxiate us?!” She had no idea what that meant, and almost sent me to my room because she thought I’d called her something so horrible, not even teenager her had ever heard that particular obscenity before.

There is also the common problem, among adults and too-smart-for-their-own-good children, of only ever hearing a word or a phrase and never figuring out the correct spelling. There are so many words that sound alike but are spelled differently, and each version of the stupidly exact-sounding word means something completely different. I’ve got their, there, and they’re down cold, but it took a while for me to get affect and effect straight. The English language, in my bitchy opinion, has some definite asinine qualities.

Or perhaps I should ask more questions. Until I was in college and saw this phrase written on the board as a common mistake college sophomores made when writing papers for the professor, I had always thought “For all intents and purposes” was “For all intensive purposes.”

According to Paul Brians, author of Common Errors in English Usage, I’m not the only native English-speaker to screw that phrase up. Which made me feel better for about point seven seconds until I saw the bit where he describes the phrase as “Another example of the oral transformation of language by people who don’t read much.” Ouch, Professor Brians. That was totally uncalled for.

I read plenty, thank you. The books I read (fine literature and lots of science-y non-fiction) just haven’t ever contained that exact phrase. I am still very smart and am an excellent reader. And clearly I have nary a hang-up about the whole intents/intensive blunder.

Further Reading:

Common Errors in English Usage
Confusing Words
Grammar and Punctuation Resources

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)

Deluded, With A Huge Imagination

2009-10-08T23:31:24Z

Anti-evolution group Living Waters and their president, Ray Comfort, have published their own version of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, complete with an awesomely religious introduction in which they explain that Darwin wasn’t so much a scientist ahead of his time, but was more a deluded freak with a huge imagination who played his fellow humans with a long list of hoaxes.

Here’s what Ray Comfort and Living Waters had to say regarding their plan:

Living Waters, an evangelical group that argues for the literal truth of the Bible, is planning to distribute 175,000 copies of The Origin of Species on university campuses next month, just in time for the 150th anniversary of its publication. But these won’t be ordinary copies. They will feature a “special introduction” to Darwin’s classic.

The idea, according to the fund raising materials, is that top universities, which might not be thrilled at their students being given anti-evolution materials, will be unable to block the distribution of Darwin’s writings. “Let’s see if they try to ban Darwin’s Origin of Species,” it says.

Look, I respect and encourage humans to have different beliefs. What I don’t respect, however, is someone (anyone, even a freaky, liberal, cold-hard-science person like myself) resorts to using fear tactics or brain-washing or some form of effed-up trickery to lure unsuspecting minds to their way of thinking. Grow up. Say what you want to say and allow people to take it or leave it. Don’t be creepy, and for the love of all things holy, don’t stoop to treating your prospective converts like children of below-average intelligence.

It’s tempting to go back on my live-and-let-live philosophy and publish my own edition of the bible with an introduction full of lots of explanations as to the epic mythology contained therein, the ancient fables of pre-scientific-method mankind, and the spectacularly unprovable math and science which the big book claims are the absolute truth. It would be a little (so much!) fun to show up at a church and pass out my version of that big guy’s book, but I won’t. I’m entirely too classy.

Posted by Alexa Harrington